EEffetti di un trattamento visuo-lessicale sulla scrittura di bambini con disortografia evolutiva| Effects of a visual-lexical treatment on the writing errors of children with dysorthography

Italian children with developmental dysgraphia have difficulties in orthographic processing due to overreliance on sublexical vs. lexical writing. We assessed whether writing errors could be reduced by visual-lexical stimulation. The training involved written naming of object pictures. The exercises were self-administered via computer. Six children with dysorthography, eight to eleven years old, received the treatment. At post-therapy evaluation, significant improvement was observed on treated words. Learning generalised to untreated words and untreated writing tasks. The improvement confirmed the use of visual-lexical strategies and effects were maintained at follow-up assessment. These results indicate that a lexical approach is useful in the treatment of developmental writing deficits in a transparent orthography.